January 22, 2010 - 9:48am | Admin
Christchurch driver, Glen Durie took out the New Zealand Three Quarter Midgetcar title at XPH Ruapuna Speedway on Thursday evening after rain had delayed the 57th running of the event from the previous Saturday night.
Napier’s Craig Todd filled the runner-up position with Christchurch’s Ricky Brett in third place.
The 36 year old was a popular winner of the 25 lap final and brought to an end a fourteen year drought since a South Island driver last lifted the trophy.
Durie went into the final starting from grid eight with the defending champion Shane O’Connor of Auckland suffering from a motor problem with his car failing to fire up meaning his title was gone even before the green flag was dropped. From the start it was the top point scorer, Todd that opened up the early lead from Brett and Christchurch drivers Ryan Stone and Lindsay Bailey. There were several caution lights early in the race with Durie making his winning move from the middle stages of the race picking off his rivals one at a time and by lap fourteen was up to second lap behind Todd who was chasing his first national tile after twice finish as runner-up as well as claiming third on another four occasions.
Durie car was clearly the strongest over the latter stages of the race and took his chance after the second to last period under a yellow light, caused after Auckland’s Lawrence Baker was involved in a heavy roll after tangling with Chris Gwilliam (Auckland) on the front straight. As the race resumed Durie powered to the lead passing Todd on the outside of the Town bend with five laps remaining and then survived one more caution period before the chequered flag dropped. On the closing laps Brett worked his way by Bailey to claim a place on the rostrum.
After the race Durie, who started racing when he was seventeen hailed it his biggest win.
“I have won the South Island title a couple of times . The car was working well out wide in the second heat and we decided to use that line in the final. I was happy to start from grid eighth and knew I was in was a chance if I stayed in the top six.
I had a couple of breaks early on and once I got by a slower car which held me up for a couple of laps I knew I had the car to win however I was a little worried if I would have enough fuel especially during the last yellow”, said the motor engineer who celebrated his birthday on Saturday.
Earlier in the night former New Zealand Champion Dick Webb failed by a narrow margin to qualify for the final.
Webb had to start off grid 18 in the repecharge, a race that he had to finish in the first three placegetters to gain a spot in the finals.
Webb did at one stage hold third position, but the ignition problems that ruined his original qualifying attempt returned and his car stopped with a couple of laps to go in the fifteen lap race.
In supporting classes the sprintcar class was hotly contested with Ray Baughan, Matt Honeywell took out the heat with Jamie Duff coming out on top in the Feature. The modified class produced their usual close racing with Kieran and Darryl Harris to the fore with race win while in the development classes Alex Boreham and Matt Leversedge were unbeaten in their respective Youth Ministocks and Quarter Midget class classes.
Race Results
New Zealand Three Quarter Midgets Championships (Competitors from Christchurch Unless Stated)
Qualifying Heats
Edge Parts & Performance Group
Ht 1. Craig Todd (H Bay) 1, Shane O’Connor (Auck) 2, Ricky Brett 3.
Ht 2. C Todd 1, O’Connor 2, Brett 3.
Ht 3. Brett 1, C Todd 2, Daryl Webster (Auck) 3.
Qualifiers for Final: Todd 41 points, Brett 38, O’Connor 31, Jared Taylor (Auck) 31, Webster (Auck) 31, Gareth Bindon 27, James Tollison (H Bay) 26
Non Qualifiers to Repercharge: Kimberley Yeatman 20, Blair Warren 20, Marty Kennett 15, Ben Smith 9, Dick Webb 0, Paul Russ 0.
Xpress Printing House Group
Ht 1. Ryan Stone 1, Dwayne Todd (H Bay) 2, Chris Gwilliam (Auck) 3.
Ht 2. Gwilliam 1, Todd 2, Gina Harris (Auck) 3.
Ht 3. Paul LeCren (Auck) 1, Stone 2, Gwilliam 3.
Qualifiers for Final: Stone 38, Gwilliam 38, Todd 36, LeCren 34, Harris 33, Rachel Melrose 19, Ben Gilmore 15
Non Qualifiers to Repercharge: Nick Donaldson 11, Calvin Mathers 10, Nevano Cowan(Auck) 8, Gareth Nixon 8, Anton Johnson (Auck) 7, James Nicholson (Nelson) 0, Brian Fridd 0
The Rock FM Group
Ht 1. Lawrence Baker (Auck) 1, Dylan MacGregor (Gisborne) 2, Mark Alexlander (H Bay) 3.
Ht 2. Brock Maskovich (Auck) 1, Karl Glover 2, Ben Tiplady 3.
Ht 3. Baker 1, Lindsay Bailey 2, Glen Durie 3.
Qualifiers for Final: Maskovich 35, MacGregor 35, Bailey 32, Durie 30, Baker 28, Glover 26, Ben Tiplady 25
Non Qualifliers to Repercharge: Mark Alexander (H Bay) 21, Aymon Bridger (Auck) 21, Tom Lumsden 16, Aidan Barclay 13, Glen Milroy 9, Matt Phillips 0
Repercharge. Alexander 1, Bridger 2, Donaldson 3.
Ht 1. C Todd 1, O’Conner 2, Stone 3, Brett 4, D Todd 5, LeCren 6.
Ht 2. Bailey 1, Maskovich 2, Brett 3, C Todd 4, Baker 5, Durie 6.
Qualifying Points. C Todd 45, Brett 43, Bailey & Stone 39, Baker 38, Harris 33, Melrose 30, Durie 27, Tollison 26, Maskovich and O’Conner 23, D Todd 20, Gilmore, LeCren, Glover & Webster all 19, Donaldson 16, Tiplady 14, Bridger 14, Bindon 10, Alexander 9, Gwilliam, Macgregor & Taylor all 0.
57th New Zealand Championship Final. Durie 1, C Todd 2, Brett 3, Bailey 4, LeCren 5, Stone 6, D Todd 7, Melrose 8, Taylor 9, Harris 10.
Non Qualifiers
Ht 1. Lumsden 1, Nicholson 2, Cowan 3.
Ht 2. Lumsden 1, Cowan 2, Nicholson 3.
Modified Sprints
Ht 1. Kieran Harris 1, Andre Goldsmith 2, Brett Robinson 3.
Ht 2. Darryl Harris 1, Robinson 2, K Harris 3.
Feature. D Harris 1, K Harris 2, Robinson 3.
Sprintcars
Ht 1. Ray Baughan 1, Gregg Teece (Nelson) 2, Scotti Savage 3.
Ht 2. Matt Honeywell 1, Baughan 2, Savage 3,
Feature. Jamie Duff 1, Teece 2, Honeywell 3.
Youth Ministocks
Ht 1. Alex Boreham 1, Ashley Murray 2, Levi Collier (Nelson) 3.
Ht 2. Boreham 1, James Thian 2, Collier 3.
Feature. Boreham 1, Thian 2, Jayden Korkill 3.
Quarter Midgets
Ht 1. Matt Leversedge 1, Luke Adams 2, Ben LeCren (Auck) 3.
Ht 2. Leversedge 1, Hunter Rowland 2, Bailey Clive 3.
Feature. Leversedge 1, Clive 2, LeCren 3.
